


Escape Pod

by dahdeemohn



Series: When Worlds Collide [9]
Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Established Relationship, Friendship, Gaming, Gen, M/M, Recovery, Star Wars References
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-24
Updated: 2016-09-24
Packaged: 2018-08-16 23:58:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8122594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dahdeemohn/pseuds/dahdeemohn
Summary: Dean's lost the title and needs and escape from his head for a few days, which leads him to Orlando and the discovery of one of Finn's endearingly nerdy secrets that takes place in a galaxy far, far away.





	

Dean had told the world that titles come and titles go, and had thought that maybe he'd even convinced himself of the same notion, fooled himself into thinking that he was perfectly fine with the loss of something that he'd literally bled for time and time again. However, once the cameras were turned off, the arena was emptied, and he sat alone in the locker room gathering his meager supplies, it felt as though bricks occupied the pit of his stomach and lungs and any other vital organ that kept his body functioning at a base level. Earlier, he declined an invitation from Sami to spend a few days in Orlando, but as he head towards the exit his limbs felt like lead, a text message was sent out to see if the offer still stood; he laughed when, in mere seconds, the response came, an enthusiastic "YES!!!".

Without hesitation, he cancelled his flight to back to Nevada and hopped on the next available red-eye to Orlando, where Sami happily greeted him in the airport lobby at some ungodly early hour. On the short drive back, they caught up on how other roster members were faring, the shared relief over the new tour schedule, and finally Dean inquired about Finn's condition.

"He's really optimistic," Sami nodded to himself as he kept his focus on the road. "Don't show him any pity, though; he gets enough of that and he just wants to be treated normally."

"Roger that." Dean yawned. "How th'fuck were you able to get up this early on your day off?"

"My sleep schedule's all weird after the overseas tour. Also I sleep lightly since Finn's up all hours, and..." Sami sighed. "It's not the same, not having him in the bed." 

"So uh...how you been holdin' up with all that?"

Sami barked out a laugh. "I'm driving him nuts, I'm sure. I make a big deal about every little thing, I have flashbacks to when I went through this and I just want him to be as comfortable as possible. God, you should have seen him when I told him that I wished I could trade places with him."

"Was he mad?"

"No. Upset, sure, but..." Sami trailed off, his tone progressively becoming more dispirited. “I really hate this. And I don’t blame Seth, but then sometimes I do. Sometimes, when we’re in the ring together, I wonder what it’d take to maim him, and it scares me that the thought crosses my mind.”

“Seth’s a pretty easy target to take your frustration out on.” Dean quietly agreed.

“I can’t even...I can’t hug or hold Finn right now, y’know.” As Sami’s voice strained, Dean looked over at him. “Ugh, I’m sorry. I don’t-”

“S’ok. It’s a lot to deal with. Sounds like you’ve been dealing with it all on y’own.”

“That’s just how I handle things in general, though.” Sami sniffed loudly and discreetly brought a hand up to his eyes, then cleared his throat. “So...should I ask how you’ve been?”

“Rather you didn’t.” Dean responded dryly. 

“I figured as much.” The left turn signal was turned on, and Sami pulled into the parking lot of his apartment complex. They were both silent as they entered the unit, but their efforts were for naught as Finn met them in the kitchen. Sami was so gentle about the way that he approached Finn, concern radiating from off of him, and Dean realized that it was the first time since he'd known they were together that he didn't see them wholeheartedly embrace one another upon greeting.

“Hi Dean!” Finn cheerfully welcomed, ignoring Sami’s fretful scrutiny. 

“Hey there.” Dean managed a grin. “Heard you got cleared to use your Legos again.”

“I did!” Equal parts of excitement and bashfulness seemed to overcome Finn, and with that some of Sami’s nervous tension also appeared to ease. “Well, I just came out for a glass of water. I’ll leave you two to catch up.”

“Actually, I’m ready to pass out.” Dean fought off another yawn. “Been a long night, y’know.”

“I made up the guest room before you got here, but let me know if you need more pillows or anything, OK?” Sami moved as though to show where the room was, but Dean was already half-way there. He shut the door behind him and set his duffle bag down, and on desk was the start of a new Lego construct, along with several books that looked as though they’d been checked out from the library, and an open three-ringed binder with what appeared to contain graph paper maps, notes, and various illustrations. The lightswitch was flicked off, and Dean was relieved to find that he didn’t make up the glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling from the last time he stayed over. 

It felt as though he’d never fallen asleep in the first place, but when light filtered through venetian blinds and hit his face, Dean realized that he actually felt rested for the first time in over 48 hours. He debated rolling over and trying to maybe catch a few more minutes of sleep, but a knock at the door had him jolting upright in bed.

“Dean, you awake?” Sami’s voice came from the other side.

“Yeah. You can come in, I’m decent.” Dean called back and the door opened, Sami’s face peeking from around it. 

“Hey, I’m about to run out and get groceries, and then bring back lunch after that. You want a sandwich or anything?”

“Wait, what time is it?” Dean scratched at his facial scruff.

“A little past 11 now.”

“Shit, didn’t mean to sleep in. Sorry."

“Nah, you’re our guest and it seems like you needed it.”

“Alright. Can you grab me a meatball sub?”

“Sure can. Finn’s around, he doesn’t have therapy today. Maybe you can watch Ancient Aliens with him?”

“I can fend for myself!” Finn called out from somewhere in the livingroom, and Sami visibly winced.

“Sami, go take care of your chores,” Dean chuckled. “Don’t worry about us.”

“Hm.” Sami grunted in acknowledgement before he disappeared. Dean waited several minutes before he rolled out of the bed and exited the guest room, just in time to see Sami kiss Finn's forehead and then walk out the front door with a few reusable tote bags. Sure enough, Ancient Aliens was on the TV, but Finn only seemed to be partially interested as he focused on the book in his left hand, occasionally looking up when Tsoukalos says something particularly outlandish. Once the car was heard starting outside the apartment, Finn put the book down and turned his attention to Dean.

“I love him, but he’s drivin’ me up a fuckin’ wall.” Finn’s expression was mirthful and tone affectionate, and Dean burst out laughing.

“He knows. Told me last night on the way here. Don’t think he can help it, though.” Dean offered and took a seat on the other side of the sectional.

“Nah, I know that. He means well, and once I’m out of the sling for good, he ought to settle down. For now I just kind of roll with it when he’s around and try not to be too crabby.”

“Y’know it’ll only pick back up when you’re getting ready to get back in the ring.”

“And I’m sure for several months after that as well.” They both laughed at that, and then Finn sighed. “Is it awful that I’m saying any of this?”

“I’m not gonna judge you. You got a lot on your plate right now, and sometimes having someone bein’ like that adds to it, even if they don’t mean to. Just lettin’ him fret instead’a snapping probably means you’re a good person.”

“Probably.” Finn snorted. It was quiet for a few minutes as they both watched a commercial for a local area Halloween attraction, and Dean was relieved that they were at the point where stretches of silence between them was no longer uncomfortable. As Finn leaned over to grab a Chewbacca bookmark from the coffee table, Dean was reminded of the binder from last night.

"Hey, you writin' a book or something?" Dean asked, and Finn's head shot up with an eyebrow arched. "I uh...you had a bunch of notes and drawings and stuff on your desk. They looked cool."

"I left that out?" Finn's voice was hardly above a whisper, his eyes now widened with what seemed to be fear, and Dean's response mirrored that.

"I didn't read it or nothing!" Dean assured him, now talking with his hands to put emphasis on his words. "I was puttin' my stuff down and saw the drawings. Did you draw 'em?"

"N-no," Finn stuttered, his face flushed. "Other people drew them. I uh...commissioned them."

Dean wanted to ask more about Finn’s ideas, but judging from the response, he probably wasn’t supposed to know that they even existed; the silence that moments ago felt comfortable was now awkward, and he worried that perhaps he had violated some unspoken boundary in his friends’ home. Just as he was about to excuse himself to anywhere that wasn’t the living room, Finn cleared his throat.

“A fan of Star Wars, are ya?” The question delicately hung in the air.

“Shit yeah, dude!” Dean eagerly answered, almost lurching forward in excitement. The expression on Finns’ face was thoughtful and he seemed to be weighing some options.

“So you know how there’s Dungeons and Dragons? Where you pretend like you’re a warrior or a wizard?”

“I know what D&D is,” Dean snorted. “Xavier tried to get a couple of the guys to play when we were on the road. Never worked out too well ‘cause everyone wanted to be a fighter or a barbarian; ‘cept me, I was a damn good rogue.”

“That actually makes a lot of sense.” A grin was shot at Dean, which he returned. “Well they made one for Star Wars, and I even have the rulebooks and a few supplement books, but I could never find anyone to play with.”

“Wait, get out. So you can like...be a Sith lord an’ stuff?” Dean’s eyes went wide with wonder at what his imagination supplied him.

“If you wanted. But as I said, I’ve never gotten to actually play it, so I just...sort of came up with my own story; like what if me friends were in Star Wars and what roles would they play, stuff like that.” In the process of explaining his concept, Finn’s face had gone pink and his gaze was firmly fixed to the floor. 

“What kind of character are you in it?” 

“Well, I’m sort of like a cross between Han Solo and a jedi. Sort of like a tweener force user.” Finn shook his head once the words left his mouth.

“Really? That’s awesome!” Dean’s enthusiasm seemed to pry Finn out of his shell bit by bit. “Is Sami a character? Is he like your Leia?” Then he gasped. “Wait, can **I** be a character?”

“Do you want to?” Finn looked up. “I mean, this probably all sounds rather silly, but-”

“Finn, make me a goddamn Star Wars character.” There wasn’t a hint of flippancy in Dean’s voice or body language, and Finn nodded.

“Alright, yeah. Wanna...you wanna help me get the stuff? We can write something up, if you want.” Before Finn finished his sentence, Dean was already up and on his way back to the guest room. 

“So can I look through the binder?” Dean called out as he glanced over the bookshelf and located a large hardcover book titled _Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game_ , then pulled it down.

“If you’d like.” Finn’s voice was much closer than before, and Dean spun around to see him standing in the doorway. “There’s also a few more sourcebooks as well, if you want to get really in depth.” 

Another look was taken, and a few softcover books were pulled out, then the red binder was scooped up and added to the armload of literature, and all items were brought out into the living room and set down on the coffee table. As Finn flipped through a few pages and listed off types of characters that were able to be selected along with a brief summary of their attributes, Dean nodded along and gently handled each piece of art with caution, then laughed when something about droid player characters were allowed. “Wait, hold on. D’you think I’d make a good droid?”

“We could work it in.” Finn grinned, but his expression quickly transitioned to something full of concern. “You uh...don’t think I’m weird for this, do ya?” 

“What? No way. Not for this. Coupla other things, sure. Everyone needs their own escape, y’know?” Dean snorted. “I like to plan out all these trips to track down Big Foot an’ do all kinds of research in my spare time, but I know it’s probably not gonna happen; doesn’t stop me from pretendin’ that I have my own History Channel special, though.”

Eventually, Dean settled on being an X-Wing pilot, and went so far as to (with assistance from Finn) write up a character sheet, only too happy to indulge in his friend’s interest. While dice were located to roll up stats, the front door opened and Sami set down filled tote bags near the entryway before disappearing again. Finn stood up and called out “Need help?” as Dean stopped the search for the die set and grabbed the red binder, closing it and bringing it back into the guest room.

“No, I got it.” Sami re-appeared with a large paper bag and accepted a quick peck from Finn on the mouth, smiling brightly at him. “What’ve you guys been up to?”

“We’re makin’ characters for a Star Wars game.” Dean cut in before Finn had a chance to say anything, and Sami peeked over to the books and pencils and loose sheets of paper on the coffee table. “You’re in, right?”

“Oh. Yeah, I guess. Is it like D&D?” Sami asked, allowing Finn to take the paper bag and bring it over to the kitchen table while Dean helped grab a few of the totes full of groceries as well. “‘Cause I haven’t played anything tabletop related since I was in highschool.”

“It’s cool, man. We got you.” Dean said with assurance, and Sami nodded. ”Y’know, you can be a droid in this game. A fuckin’ droid, Sami. Tell me that ain’t the best shit.” 

“That _is_ pretty great.” Sami laughed a few times as Dean eagerly regurgitated all of the information that Finn had shared with him earlier, along with a few added flourishes from his own imagination of potential adventures they could go on and who they could ask to join them. In between bites of his lunch and planning their campaign, Dean caught a look on Finn’s face that sat somewhere between excitement and gratitude, and he realized that not once since he’d woken up had he worried about championships or wins or losses or soccer mom haircuts and Jesus zippers. 

Maybe there was something poetic or ironic that, by encouraging his friend’s escape, he achieved his own for a short while. Maybe that’s what being a good friend or a good person in general was all about. Maybe Star Wars was just rad as hell and had the power to heal. Dean didn’t know, but he felt pretty good about all of it either way.


End file.
